The weather this week was interesting. Apparently, the UP received the "storm of the century"- but I don't remember it being all THAT bad. Sure, there was snow. Lots of snow. And wind, can't forget that. It was cold, it was icy, and most importantly- it was snowy! I love snow.

It was nice to get dumped on. We went from having no snow, to having blankets of the white fluffy stuff. YAY! That to me means cross-country skiing, trail shoes, and snowshoeing.

It wasn't all smiles and laughs, though. Seriously, it snowed for six days straight. It really never stopped. If it did stop, you couldn't tell, because the wind was whirring up the snow that had fallen earier. It was definitely winter parka weather.

It was miserable walking home from campus, but it was better than having to scrape off seven inches of snow after being parked for a few hours.

It was totally worth getting out and doing stuff! Yesterday, I went for an early-morning jog around Houghotn, and it was nice to get the glow of street lights reflecting off the snow. Holiday decorations were out and people were up and at'em, shoveling and snowblowing their driveways. The coolest thing was probably the army of snowplows on Montezuma I saw as I headed up Bridge Street. One after the other charging through the snow, lining up piles of snow in the middle of the busiest street in the Keweenaw. So cool. I definitely had to head out prepared, though. I wore my headlamp and several layers! Get ready to get cold, girlfriend!

Today was absolutely beautiful. The Michigan Tech Huskies had their season opener for Nordic. Sure, it was a little squeaky and sticky for skate, but my kick today was awesome (I classical skied... ).

Adam and I tried out our new headgear that we bought from Sauce (formerly SOS headgear), which was started by a friend of mine and current professional skier, Shayla Swanson (Canada National Team). I met Shayla when I lived in Bozeman [she was roommies with my girl, Karin C.]. Both girls are kick-ass skiers. I love that Shayla sells these hats as a way to represent the ski community and support herself financially. Seriously, it's really hard to find a perfect hat for xc-skiing (or running, for that matter). Some are way too warm for aerobic activities, some are not wind resistant at all, and some just sorta inch their way off your melon as you move around. The Sauce hats (like the Swift Toque) and headbands are sweet, because they are tight around the ears but not too tight, cover more surface area (ie. skin!) and they don't leave you exposed to the elements. Plus, they hats are supa-styling. Mocha polka pattern looks soooo sweet [that's the pattern I've got, pictured below]! I really like how easy these are to take care of, too. The tassel is removable, so I just pull a string and the top of the hat opens up and the tassel comes off. Way convenient for washing it, so I don't have to worry about the tassel getting all gnarly in the washnig machine at the laundromat. Extra bonus.

So today, Adam and I just skied around on the trails after watching the men's race finish. The trails were awesome, 24Km all packed and groomed. I pulled something in my inner thigh while out on Portage loop, hopefully its nothing and I can get back out there tomorrow and get some more skiing in. I love to classic ski! Here's a video of me out on core loop:

After I pulled my adductor or whatever I did, I dinked around behind Adam a bit and did some videography. Sorry if its a little bumpy, but you gotta see how awesome the trails look :-D I loooove the UP.

That's all I got for now! Get outside, folks! It'll make you feel better :-D

Oh, man. JEALOUS - and we have enough snow for skiing down here in Minnesota already. Takes me back to high school! I burned plenty of k's on the Tech trails. Are you doing any ski races this winter? (I dimly recall a tweet about the Noq...) With classic technique like that, it'd be a shame not to race!

Dare I say I am jealous. At this time last year we had a 24 inch dump that shut down the whole city (Spokane, WA) and now... nothing. I got skate skis this year that I am really excited to get out on, but no luck - yet. The trails are beautiful!!!

So cold! I enjoyed the videos, especially the quiet crunching and swishing of the snow with no voices. So beautiful. Thanks for sharing, I might not get to see any snow this year...by the way, is that head light pretty strong and bright at night?